


Paper Airplanes

by Deaflittlesnail



Category: The Worst Witch (TV 2017), The Worst Witch - All Media Types
Genre: Hecate Hardbroom comforting small child, just a cute drabble
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-11
Updated: 2018-04-11
Packaged: 2019-04-21 13:27:48
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,455
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14285916
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Deaflittlesnail/pseuds/Deaflittlesnail
Summary: It was 9 am in the middle of potions class. Or it should have been the middle of class, had Hecate Hardbroom not been currently locked in a storage closet with a very nervous Sybil Hallow. - Short fic where Miss Hardbroom gets stuck in a storage closet and a paper airplane makes things unexpectedly better





	Paper Airplanes

**Author's Note:**

> Final-edited version of the tumblr post earlier put up on my mercifulheavens account. Special thanks to catmca100 for encouraging me in more ways than I can thank.

It was 9 am in the middle of potions class. Or it should have been the middle of class, had Hecate Hardbroom not been currently locked in a storage closet with a very nervous Sybil Hallow.  
The potions mistress pulled on the door handle again; praying to every deity that came to mind that it would open. Why was it always doors? She mused, inwardly only several more fruitless tugs from losing her calm demeanor.  
She had heard a noise; like a mouse scratching at the storeroom door and lo and beyond, had found little Sybil Hallow hunkered by the corner of the closet. The girl had sprung to her feet when Hecate had swept in, her eyes wide with terror just seconds too late as the door swung shut...  
It had been days... ten minutes, Hecate! She chastised her inner voice that kept screaming dramatically at her. Someone would notice either of their absences soon enough.  
She gave up on the door and turned back to the child, currently deeply invested in the hem of her too-long uniform dress.  
“Tell me again how this happened.” Hecate ground out, struggling to not snap at the trembling girl. It wasn’t her fault exactly.  
“They tried a detention spell on the door to trick Ethel, Miss. And I changed my mind and came back to get rid of it. But I forgot the spell.” The girl dropped her gaze even lower, which looked painfully familiar all of a sudden. Neither trapped occupants pointed out that the detention spell wasn’t reversible. It wore off after a few hours (usually indicated by the initial spell) or someone let them out…  
“How long did they set the spell for?” Hecate asked, fingernails digging into the side of her dress.  
Sybil, if it was possible, looked even more miserable.  
“3 hours.”  
Hecate swallowed thickly and carefully glanced around the room. It was the secondary storage and only possessed the overflow items that would be used later in the term. She didn’t spot anything that could assist without also blowing them to pieces. Patience... she chanted. Someone will notice; Ada will come. Dimity will figure it out. Miss Bat will- She grimaced, that line of thought wasn’t helping.  
“Why did you and your friends want to trap your sister?” She asked, fingers flexing as the small space seemed to shift in size before her.  
Sybil shrugged, tucking her thin arms around knobby knees.  
“She was mean to Beatrice. We thought- we just wanted her to say she was sorry.” The girl sounded about as miserable as Hecate felt.  
“I see.”  
Ethel was a current sore spot for the deputy head. She had once thought the girl had potential to be as great a student as Esmeralda; but two years in and she now had a ‘rap sheet’ that made Mildred Hubble’s pale in comparison. Hecate had asked Ada to consider expulsion multiple times. But chances were the lifeblood of Cackles. Ada was terrified for failing the girl. Of her ending up like Agatha because of being sent to an institution that didn’t care about her. Hecate had kept her thoughts on that to herself.  
“Are you okay, Miss?” The little mousy girl seemed to perk up a bit, eyes still cartoonish in their wideness. “I’m fine, Sybil.” She replied. You didn’t tell an 11 year old girl you were sharing a small space with that you weren’t fine. Even if she felt like screaming. It had not even been half an hour..  
“Did- can we...?” The girl started and stopped, turning red as she dropped her eyes back to her knees.  
Eager for a distraction, Hecate sighed and folded herself down to sit on the floor. There wasn’t much room, but she was able to sit across from the child and still stretch out her legs with only a slight bend. Sybil moved to copy her, grinning. Apparently sitting on the floor equaled a chumminess that had erased the girl’s fear of her.  
“We could fold airplanes!” Sybil chirped.  
Hecate blinked rapidly.  
“What?”  
“Esme learnt how to fold them when she was getting ready for the other school. It’s really fun.”  
The potions mistress blinked again.  
“I don’t see-“  
“With paper! Like metal birds.” Sybil interrupted. She was practically glowing with excitement. Hecate had no idea what was going on. The trembling girl too frightened to dare anything like this a minute ago had fled the scene. Was it because she was sitting on the floor? Did she lose her strict demeanor when half leaning against a wall, shoes pressed against the other wall? She sighed.  
“I know what an airplane is, Sybil.”  
The girl started forward, knees slapping the stones beneath them almost painfully.  
“Then we can make them?” She exclaimed excitedly.  
“I never said-“  
“But I know how and I have paper and if we use tape-“  
“Will you stop-“  
“Please! I need... I need to do something, Miss.” The pity-eyes were back.  
“While I realise this is not an ideal situation. Under no circumstances are we building any sort of paper airplane.” She softened her tone ever so slightly when tears sprang to the girl’s eyes. There was a soft sniffle. “Perhaps try to think of something other than where you are.”  
The girl nodded pitifully, knees going back under her chin.  
“Sorry, Miss Hardbroom.” She whispered. She sniffled again, tucking herself closer to the wall as if willing it to swallow her.  
Five minutes went by; painfully slow and easily counted by the ruthless tap of Hecate’s anxious fingers and the wet sniffs from Sybil.  
Hecate closed her eyes, counting back from fifty. She had tried to transfer herself and the girl as soon as she’d been unable to open the door the first time. The detention spell, old and barely used any more due to the nature of it, had held tight. Once, as a child, she remembered being held in a room with a spell similar. Pippa’s friends had teased her about her latest test score, calling her a cheater and other unkind lies. She’d snapped and tried to transfer away, earning herself detention as a punishment for unauthorized magic. She had not thought of it in years and inwardly shuddered. It hadn’t been pleasant.  
“Will we get in trouble for this? Me and.” She wipes her nose with the back of her sleeve. “My friends. We didn’t do anything bad really.”  
“Plotting to trap another student in a storage closet and therefore have her miss her classes is something bad, even if you think she slighted you.” Hecate snapped, irritation having steadily built.  
“I’m sorry. I wasn’t thinking.” The girl sniffled pitifully. Somehow, Hecate doubted that. Sybil was many things; but she was bright and sweet, despite being almost painfully naive. She had given it a great deal of thought before letting her friends talk her into it, Hecate mused. Still, they were trapped and she was missing her class because of this foolishness.  
“Obviously.”  
Sybil burst into a heavy sobbing. Hecate looked on in concern. She had taught long enough to have comforted many a teary student. But she had never been forced to stay this close to a sobbing girl without the option of turning her off to another colleague or sending her off to class or bed.  
“There’s no need to cry.” She assured her, rising to her knees in an unconscious effort to make some more distance between them. The girl sobbed harder.  
“I don’t want to be expelled.” She hiccupped, tears mixing with her running nose.  
Hecate couldn’t remember ever having felt so helpless.  
“You are not going to be expelled for this, Sybil.”  
“But- Ethel said that one more time and you’d send me home!”  
“Well, your sister lied.”  
Sybil continued to drip.  
“Here.” Hecate, unable to think of anything else, grabbed the top stack of blank paper sheets from the basket nearby. She folded it lengthwise, squaring the corners and then folded the corners down to form triangles. Folding again and again, slender fingers holding the fragile paper only centimetres from the attentively watching child. She smoothed out the final fold and dropped it in the girl’s lap.  
“Oh it’s beautiful.” Sybil crowed. She lifted the now tear stained paper airplane as if it was a precious heirloom and grinned. “Thank you, Miss Hardbroom.”  
“Stop crying, Sybil.”  
But Hecate smiled a small smile anyway. Later she may have forgotten to punish or even report the incident when Miss Bat pulled the storage closet door open, looking for her misplaced tea cup. And if Sybil did better at staying focused in potions the next day that probably had nothing to do with the paper airplane in her uniform pocket.


End file.
